Sunday, 29 October 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
State bats for Central clearance for small hydro power projects
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that the State government has requested the Centre to give its clearance to all the stalled hydro power projects which have a power generation capacity of less than 25 MW. He said that these projects will have no adverse impact on the environment.
Interacting with the media persons at his residence on Saturday, the CM said that the consistent efforts of the State government have yielded results as the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved inclusion of Jamrani dam multipurpose project. Expressing gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, the CM said that the project will benefit the people of Terai region of the State. He said that the approval of the Union cabinet has ended a long wait for the people of Terai that started in 1975. Dhami said that he has seen that whenever PM Modi visits the State the State gets clearance for some mega project. He said that during the PM’s recent visit to Pithoragarh, he requested for approval for the Jamrani dam project which Modi did after some days. Similarly on December 2, 2021, the PM had visited Dehradun and during the visit a request regarding clearance for the Lakhwad power project was made to him and within days the approval was given. Dhami said the CCEA has approved Central support of Rs 1,557.18 crore to Uttarakhand for completion of the Jamrani project. The project envisages construction of a dam near Jamrani village, 10 kilometres upstream of Kathgodam on the river Gaula in Nainital. The dam located at an altitude of 1,150.60 metres would provide irrigation facilities to 1.50 lakh hectares of land in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. In addition, the project also envisages hydro power generation of 14 MW, as well as provision of 42.70 million cubic metres (MCM) of drinking water to Haldwani and nearby areas which will benefit more than 10.65 lakh population.
Dhami said that 351.55 hectares of forest land has already been transferred to the Irrigation department for the Jamrani dam. He further informed that the State cabinet has also approved the proposal to shift the families affected by the project in the 300.5 acres of land of Parag farm in Udham Singh Nagar district.
Dhami said that the chief ministers of Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Haryana have given their approval for the Lakhwad project. He said that a 204 metre high concrete dam will be built at Lahori village on river Yamuna in Dehradun district in the Lakhwad project. The project will provide irrigation facilities in 33,780 hectares of land and will provide drinking water to six states. Uttarakhand will have sole right on the power produced from the project.
In response to a question the CM said that Memoranda of Understandings (MoUs) worth Rs 65,000 crore have been signed in the roadshows held in different cities of the country and abroad to promote the Global investors summit proposed in December in Dehradun. The summit aims to attract investment in different sectors and create employment opportunities.
The MLAs Suresh Chauhan, Sarita Arya, Secretary R Meenakshi Sundaram, director general information Bansidhar Tiwari and others were present on the occasion.
